Morton Blackwell is the president of the Leadership Institute, a non-partisan educational foundation he founded in 1979. His institute prepares conservatives for success in politics, government and the news media. Over the years the Leadership Institute has trained more than 191,413 students. It currently has revenue of almost $15 million per year and a full-time staff of 68.
First elected to the Arlington County (Virginia) Republican Committee in 1972, he is a member of the Virginia Republican state central committee and was first elected in 1988 as Virginia’s Republican National Committeeman (RNC), a post he still holds. In 2004 he was elected to a term on the Executive Committee of the RNC.
Having worked actively in politics for more than fifty years, he has probably trained more political activists than any other conservative. Starting in the 1960s, he has trained thousands of people who have served on staff for conservative and Republican candidates in every state.
He was a national convention Alternate Delegate for Ronald Reagan in 1968 and 1976, and a Ronald Reagan Delegate at the 1980 national convention. In 1980, he organized and oversaw the national youth effort for Ronald Reagan. He served as Special Assistant to the President on President Reagan’s White House Staff 1981-1984.
Currently, Blackwell is the President and Founder of the Leadership Institute, he is also a member of the Arlington County Republican Committee, the organizer/Chairman of the Conservative Leadership PAC, and he serves on the Board of Directors for the Reagan Alumni Association.
